Download Differentiation made Easy: Low

Differentiation made
Easy: Low-prep Potpourri
with Lisa Van Gemert
A.
Anchoring Activities (do when done, beginning of day, stuck & waiting for
help)
• DEAR time
• journal/learning log
• vocab development (bit.ly/superkidsvocab;
wordcentral.com/home.html; http://www.merriamwebster.com/word/subscribe.htm)
• math problem of day (on board; jar of something to guess)
• brain teasers (bit.ly/classbraintease)
Altered Books
• bit.ly/altbookhow
• bit.ly/altbookhow2
• bit.ly/altbookhow3
B.
Bookmarks - bookmarks-elem or bit.ly/bookmarks-ms
D.
Day to be the Teacher: have a student start the class
• bring in quote and run discussion
• recap yesterday’s work
• introduce new vocabulary
• work a homework problem
E.
Ears: listening stations (music, podcasts, books on tape; bit.ly/itunesued; dual
language books)
F.
G.
Flexible grouping (flow; jigsaw it [give different pieces to different groups];
collaborative; circle; four corners)
Games (mindware.com; Equate; Boggle; Upwords; 20 questions;
bit.ly/mgwinners; mensaforkids.org ) ; really good puzzles (try Cobble Hill
Puzzles – cobblehillpuzzles.com).
I.
Independent Study Project (kid tested, teacher approved) iimresearch.com
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K.
Introduce:
Spend time introducing students to the textbook or material. Create a
scavenger hunt, a “tour”, or simply flip randomly through it, commenting,
reflecting, and using stories to connect to it.
Kagan chips: kaganonline.com
L.
Library – read and respond; give list of books (use list at mensaforkids.org for a
guide by grade)
Have them demonstrate understanding with one of these ideas:
- 3-Part Harmony written summary:
What happens in the beginning/middle/end?
What is the most critical moment?
How else could the author have ended the story?
- book moment with you
- book box – various items that represent key objects in the story (not a
diorama) – give written or oral explanations
- “pitch it” – pitch the book to a Hollywood producer for a movie (written
or oral)
- annotate a section of the text
- Sociograms: Students create a visual representation of the relationships
among characters. The central character in a work is placed at the
center of a page and all the other characters are placed around him/her;
spatial relationships, size, shape, color, etc. are all used to represent their
relationship to one another. (See end for example.)
M.
Magazines: bestdealmagazines.com
Smithsonian, National Geographic, sports (ESPN, Sports Illustrated for Kids)
Find list of magazines for kids at: bit.ly/maglist
Made to Stick:
Use SUCCESs model to make instruction “sticky” heathbrothers.com/resources
O.
One-minute Master: write for one minute most significant (useful, meaningful,
awful, disturbing, effective, helpful) thing they learned. Trade with a partner
and respond (agree/disagree/build).
P.
Place (a.k.a. centers).
Interest center/subject center. Activities and resources. Doesn’t have to be
labor intensive. Use library to cycle stuff.
Example:
Alphabet Center (after semi-colon is for higher-level learners)
• magnetic letters to put letters in ABC order/sort by capital and
lowercase; use magnetic letters to spell words and then write them
• use pasta letters to put letters in ABC order; spell words
• string alphabet beads in ABC order; spell words
• ladle out letters from a pot of “alphabet soup” and write or draw pictures
2
Q.
to illustrate words that begin with those letters; write words beginning
with those letters and then put in alpha order
• high level only: create and write alphabetical sentences in which the
words are in alpha order (Cats do easy feats.)
Have an assortment of books in the center
word/picture books
alphabet books with themes
riddle books
alphabet books in other languages
Questions – multiple levels of questions
make cue cards for yourself (or posters) with Bloom’s/Anderson’s/Costa’s
or other questioning level stems
• laminate cards for kids (can put on metal rings; color code by level)
• essential questions (bit.ly/esquest)
RSQC2
• In two minutes, students recall and list in rank order the most important
ideas from a previous day's class
• In two more minutes, they summarize those points in a single sentence
• Next, they write one major question they want answered
• After that, they make a comment on what they’ve learned
• Lastly, they identify a thread or theme to connect this material to the
course's major goal
•
R.
S.
Share – trade with other teachers, rotating books, magazines, and other
materials to keep them fresh
Summarizing - Triad Summarizing (see below)
T.
Tic-tac-toe (or shapes (triangle, circle, square) assignment choices
• blackout
• see below for examples
TED ted.com (try TED Connections at mensaforkids.org)
V.
Vocabulary:
FRAYER MODEL
Definition (in own words)
Draw a picture
Examples (from own life)
Non-examples (from own life)
USING SENTENCE STEMS TO DESCRIBE A WORD
How Can I Describe This Word?
It’s kind of like a _______________________________________________.
It looks like a __________________________________________________.
It’s when you __________________________________________________.
It’s where you go to ____________________________________________.
It smells like __________________________________________________.
You use it when you ____________________________________________.
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W.
DEFINITION WORD CHART
Word:
Things I know about the word:
General category this word might belong in:
Examples or other related words:
My definition:
Writer’s Antithesis:
Students take a passage from the text they are reading and rewrite the
passage reversing one or more of the writer’s choices: the tone,
characterization, writer’s voice, point of view, setting, etc.
Wordle: wordle.net
ideas for using in class: bit.ly/wordcloudsinclass
Y.
You own the word:
• individualized spelling list
• word art
• illustrated dictionary
• acrostic poems
TRIAD SUMMARIZING:
ROUND
A
B
#1
READ
#2
SUMMARIZE
#3
MAIN IDEA
SIGNIFICANT LINE
READ
SUMMARIZE
SUMMARIZE
ASK QUESTION
RELATED TO TEXT
READ
READ
SUMMARIZE
COMMENT
IMPORTANT POINT
READ
SUMMARIZE
C
D
E
SUMMARIZE
F
MOST INTERESTING
POINT
READ
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Tic-Tac-Toe
Directions: Choose activities in a tic-tac-toe design. When you have completed the activities in a row –
horizontally, vertically, or diagonally – you may decide to be finished. Or you may decide to keep going and
complete more activities.
I choose activities # _________, # ________, # ________, # ________
Do you have ideas for alternate activities you’d like to do instead? Talk them over with your teacher.
I prefer to do the following alternate activities:
Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe
Name ________________________________ Date______________
•
•
Choose three assignments to complete a tic-tac-toe.
All three assignments must be finished and turned in on ____________________.
Story wordsWrite a short story using all
of your spelling words.
*The story must have a plot
and characters.
*Underline the spelling
words used in the story.
Create an ActivityFeeling creative? Make up
your own spelling activity.
Picture wordsDraw a picture using each
of your spelling words.
What’s missingFind a partner to write
each spelling word on a
piece of paper. When
doing so, your partner must
leave out a letter in each
word. You then have ten
seconds to catch each
mistake.
BCA orderWrite your spelling words in
reverse alphabetical order
(Z-A).
Ransom wordsSpell out your spelling
words by cutting out letters
from a newspaper or
magazine.
Pyramid wordsWrite your spelling words
adding or subtracting one
letter at a time. The result
will be a pyramid shape for
each word.
Other handedIf you are right-handed,
write a list of your spelling
words using your left hand,
or vice versa.
Silly sentencesUse all your spelling words
in ten funny sentences.
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Possible Activities for Tic-Tac-Toe
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add chapter to a book
advertisements
anecdotes
announcements
audiotape
autobiographies
awards
ballad
billboards
brochures
book jackets
booklets
bulletin board display
bumper stickers
captions
cartoon or comic
case study
chart or collage
cereal boxes
children's book
commentaries
conversations
data table
definitions
demonstrations
designs
detective story
dialogues
diary entries
dictionaries
dioramas or displays
directions
drama scripts
drawings or illustrations
editorials or essays
event chains
experiments
explanations
fables or fairy tales
fact sheets or books
family tree
flag
flow chart
folk tales
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friendly letter
games / puzzles
game boards
graffiti
graph
group project
guidebooks
historical (I was there)
horoscopes
idea webs
interviews
inventions
invitations
jokes
journals
jump rope jingles
labels
legends
letters
lexicons
lies
lists
lyrics
magazine page
manuals
maps
math problems
memoirs
memories
menus
models
movie scripts
murals
museum projects
music video
musical instrument
mysteries
myths
newscasts
newspaper articles
obituaries
opinions
oral presentations
oral reports & visuals
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pamphlets
peer editing
petition
persuasive writing
photo album
plays
poems
position statements
postcards
poster
proposals
puppet shows
reader’s theatre
reading journal
recipe
reports
requests
research report
responses to literature
responses via performing
resumes
retellings
reviews of books
rules of etiquette
scale models
scenery for play
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science display
scrapbook
sculpture
shadow box
short story
signs or sketches
skits
songs
speeches
story problem
summaries
survey
telegrams
television scripts
terrarium
time capsule
timeline
tribute
Venn diagram
videotape
weather map
writing fiction
writing nonfiction
wishes
written debates
Sociogram Examples
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